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Kale, anyone? Santa Paula students sample healthy eats

Ventura County Star
Published 11:12 a.m. PT Feb. 8, 2016

ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR Santa Paula High School seniors Alexa Villa and Carlos Zamudio prepare samples of kale salad with a tangy lemon dressing as the lunch period begins. Kale was the January sample, as students try to inform their classmates about the availability of healthier options on the school’s menu.(Photo: Anthony Plascencia)

ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR Santa Paula High School students line up in one of the school’s kitchens last month as nutrition supervisor Jennifer Stacey-Gunter prepares samples of the school’s kale salad with a tangy lemon dressing. Kale was the January sample, as students try to inform their classmates about the availability of healthier options on the school’s menu. (Photo: Anthony Plascencia)

ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR Santa Paula High School senior Carlos Zamudio (left) hands out samples of kale salad with a tangy lemon dressing to classmates Ariel Martinez, Adrian Vargas and Jose Castro during a lunch period last month. Kale was the January sample, as students try to inform their classmates about the availability of healthier options on the school’s menu. (Photo: Anthony Plascencia)

ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR Santa Paula High School senior Carlos Zamudio (right) hands out samples of kale salad with a tangy lemon dressing to fellow students David Montalvo and Joshua Barba during a lunch period last month. The sample were aimed at informing students of the availability of healthier options on the school’s menu. (Photo: Anthony Plascencia)

Students are helping other students make healthy food choices at Santa Paula High School.

A Harvest of the Month program allows students to learn about healthy, locally grown food that can be easily incorporated into a daily diet, according to Mareille Vargas, 16, the president of Students Encouraging Social Political and Environmental Action.

SESPEA, with the help of the Abundant Table's Rooted Futures program, offers students a fruit or vegetable to try each month. In January it was kale, in February oranges, and in March students will try broccoli dishes.

"We have a local seasonal fruit or vegetable and also a recipe using a food featured during the monthly harvest," Vargas explained, adding that all the chefs are students.

"They all make different recipes and they select the recipe after deciding which one they like — it's a blind tasting."

But just coming up with a delicious recipe made with local produce isn't enough. The students also had to take into account the restrictions of making a dish on a large scale.

"We tried doing our own thing in May, but realized it was harder to do in a cafeteria," Vargas said. "A recipe can look great on paper, but can be too hard to make for a large group."

Vargas described SESPEA as a "social, political organization."

"Last year our major project was to get a farmers market in Santa Paula and a Harvest of the Month program at the high school," she said.

Jennifer Stacey-Gunter, child nutrition supervisor at Santa Paula High School, helps the students with the program, which has been in the works for two years and is now being implemented.

"The response to the program has been pretty good," she said. "The target is high school students, which can be challenging. We have a salad bar, but it's up against burgers and pizza and fun things like that."

Stacey-Gunter said each student is required to take one fruit or vegetable with each meal as part of the district's efforts to promote healthy eating and fight childhood obesity.

For the Harvest of the Month program, the featured fruit or vegetable is purchased from The Berry Man, a local purveyor.

"The students love free food," Stacey-Gunter said. "Students from SESPEA group are talking to their peers about fresh food from local farms like McGrath's."

Vargas explained that the Harvest of the Month idea came from The Abundant Table, a nonprofit faith-based group that has been promoting "land-based and farm-to-school experiential learning" since 2009 in Ventura County.

Erynn Smith, who coordinates farming education opportunities for The Abundant Table, suggested the Harvest of the Month idea to the SESPEA students.

This year, the program is being funded in part by a McCune Foundation grant of $10,000, which the Abundant Table received in November. The Rooted Futures program, which is the focus of the grant, works in low-income school districts to promote peer education about healthy eating, using local food.

Last year, the district's student food program was supplemented by an $8,000 grant from the Ventura County Social Justice Fund, Smith said.

"The Abundant Table actually formed in response to looking at some of the challenges in the local and global food system," Smith said. "We're here because of the fact that we come from such a rich agricultural community, but so few people know what's growing in the fields."

Vargas said SESPEA is still is trying to get a farmers market up and running in Santa Paula, which is requiring presentations before various community groups.

But she's pleased the Harvest of the Month project is now underway, and Smith said the healthy message is taken home by students.

"When we first started doing this we worked with students in kindergarten through sixth grades," Smith said. "Now they educate their brothers and sisters and take the message back to their families."